OS X or Vista

I have used both over the years. And I used to be a near absolute Microsoft fanboy. I think the problem with Windows became most noticeable during the early launch and adoption of Windows XP. I'll skip the reasons for this to get to the punch line that XP was a can of worms when used by the average office pool secretary. By this I mean the layout of Teletubbie land on the new XP systems prevented her from installing her prefered media player, the email she wanted to use, the chat software she wanted, etc. So one of two things happened. Either she was the "local administrator" who "knew more" about computers than her boss and proceeded to screw up her system unknowingly or the IT guy would simply give up having to constantly allow her account to install some stupid piece of software and simply set the secretary to run as an administrator at all times.

XP really did seem to offer the end user an Apple like desktop, but the XP systems run by idiots unfairly added to the reputation that Windows XP doesn't work. It did work, but people tended to use them without any training or understanding of how much more jacked up both XP's capabilities and settings were over Win98se or even Windows 2000 Pro. You may have had an Apple like startbar and dock area, but it wasn't OSX.

I found that it was increasingly common for systems in offices to start out like they all had Porsche computers and a month later they had Yugos needing a complete rebuild. It really was not Microsoft's fault. The real problem is the user.

As a uber geek, having access to everything to tweak and otherwise customize within the limits set by Microsoft was great. But for an average user it was like giving someone who has never even held a gun a fully automatic M-16 with a grenade launcher and a night vision scope and laser sites. Most people have no idea- or even need to have that level of equivalent power vs responsibility. Most XP users- and for that matter most Windows users currently- who are suffering problems are the result of self inflicted wounds.

The reality is that if you purchase a Windows based system, and you intend to customize software installations or otherwise move beyond simple web browsing, email, and media activities you will find yourself soon having issues. From conflicting drivers, software, inconsistent hardware compatibility, or unintended consequences from installing different hardware and software from different vendors, the average user will find himself having issues. It has gotten progressively batter through the years as Microsoft has strengthened the vendor certification standards for hardware and software. But the fact remains, a windows based system may have a proprietary software operating environment but the hardware and other software is a series of independent products produced with conflicting goals, standards, and ideas.

And that is why unless Microsoft starts building computers, the problem will never go away.

The Apple path is certainly more costly upfront. Fact is Apples cost comparatively more compared to a comparable Windows Vista system. On a Vista system you can get more memory, hard drive space, and a bigger display compared to an Apple iMac for example. And often the cost of this hardware on the Vista system is hundreds of dollars less. Further, if you buy a Vista system, virtually any store with a computer department will have tons of additional hardware you can buy that is pre-certified to be Vista compatible. You don't have to drive an hour to find a store with a single shelf worth of Apple specific hardware. If you need a Windows compatible caple or slot card, odds are you can get it in minutes.

The Apple though has several features which over the long haul make it a better purchase for most people. The first is that Apple is both a proprietary software operating system and a proprietary hardware system. What this means is if it has an Apple logo on it- it will function exactly as advertised. There is no issue as to whether the software you just bought will work or if the new hardware you bought will inadvertently fry your graphics card. To a do it for your self kind of person, that simple feature means that it won't require any technical capacity to use your system in a reliable manner. The other feature which makes Apples generally superior to Windows systems is that natively out of the box an Apple system does both what an average computer users wants to do as well as also do what the most hardcore computer user needs a computer to do.

If you consider that most computer users want something that lets them check their email, surf the web, video conference with family, and write the Great American Novel, then they will find that an Apple does exactly that right out of the box. Further, with the iLife suite that comes pre-installed, just about every common user task is supported without you ever even needing to buy another piece of software. To explain the difference better, an Apple computer is like buying a very high quality razor that never needs a new blade. To a user that simply wants to have a computer unobtrusively contributing to his productiveness instead of being a hinderance to the process of using a computer, the Apple wins hands down.

If you happen to be an uber geek the Apple is something that appeals to you since the Apple comes out of the box in a form factor that is pretty bullet proof. It runs faster and leaner. Gets its kick from Unix, and lets you run virtual Windows Vista, XP and Linux flavors to your heart's content. You want to render graphics or otherwise engage in processor intensive activities- you can without the chug found on comparable Vista systems. In short, the uber geek that hacked you two ways to Sunday last night and wiped out you bank account probably used a mac Pro to do it.

The potential flaw of being proprietary in both hardware and software OS is somewhat mitigated by the fact that Apple has jumped on the open source bandwagon and even released a lot of its code and hardware specifications. Because of this, Apple gets tons of free quality development. See the iPhone for an example of this fact. Who knew someone would create a dyno program that lets you accurately use your phone to time your car's horsepower over a quarter mile? So unlike Microsoft, Apple does get a large degree of stability of hardware and software simply because they base their OS on a public domain Unix.

The real benefit of having an Apple however is how long you go before you have to replace it. People use Apples long after they ceased to be supported by anyone. The numbers of people still using Apple OS9 systems is staggering. And they often are using it on systems that have had nothing done to them since they opened the packaging. To put it in perspective it would be like someone using a Windows 95 system today who can still use the system as though they just bought a new Windows system.

When you look at the cost of entry it is indeed steep. I could have bought four computers for the price of the two Apple computers I bought this year. But I can reasonably expect that I won't be replacing either computer for the next 8 years barring a critical hardware error or Web 2.0 becoming Web 6.0. When you amortize the cost over that time it makes my computers cost about $200 a year- and that also includes my terrabyte Apple Time Machine, a new iPod Shuffle, and two Apple TV.

Couple years back my father in law asked me what I would recommend he buy now that he was retiring and would no longer have a government supplied laptop PC. I told him point blank he should buy an Apple iBook based upon both his utter lack of computer expertise and also what he intended to do with it. He promptly ignored my advice and went out and bought a Toshiba laptop running Vista. A month after he bought it, he had me removing some virus files and undoing several items that I should have charged him $500 for. Last week he told my wife on the phone that the system was unusable and it would cost him $500 to get it wiped, cleaned, and then have the OS reinstalled.

He spent $2,000 on that system.

The particular model he bought now shows up on eBay for around $300. The iBook I recommended still sells for $600.

Windows Vista is an excellent OS if you are equipped with the personal capcity that enables competent computer software and hardware administration. Apples are generally best for most users with the qualification that you have to either be willing to pay a lot upfront or pay a lot of money for a used Apple if you cannot afford the new ones.

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Real Space vs. Cyber Space

It is funny but I think that what you see of me here and on Ornery is who I really am. I tend to just "listen" on Hatrack because much of the discussion tends towards pop culture, or issues that I simply don't follow very closely like movies or current music. In real life if you start talking about this type of stuff, my eyes glaze over and it becomes obvious pretty quickly that I really am not listening too well. I simply don't care about Brittany Spears or whatever happens to be the latest cover-page of People magazine. Mostly however, it is just that I know so little about popular culture that I essentially have nothing to say. People ask who is your favorite actress and I am thinking Greta Garbo or Vivian Lee or some long gone actress instead of the latest starlet that played the blonde bimbo in the latest Hollywood movie. I constantly need to be reminded by my wife who is who in the latest shocking celebrity scandal.

I also tend not to engage much in a large group in real life. I have a huge problem keeping names matched with faces, so often times I need to meet someone several times before it becomes permanently ingrained. Needless to say that is a really embarrassing problem in real life. On Hatrack no one realizes that I even have such a problem. I'm not timid or afraid of large groups of people, it is just that I seldom have anything to say which would be of much interests to anyone else. Unless of course you happen to hit subjects I do know something about.

Bring up Anthropology, history, football, Formula One, or politics and you will wish you hadn't because I'll talk your ear off. But in real life, aside from football, not many people willingly talk about history, anthropology, or even know about Formula One. And politics is simply not polite conversation at a cocktail party. 

I think who I am on Hatrack, in real life, and on Ornery are the same person. It hasn't been a deliberate decision to make it that way, but that is how it turned out. In fact in real life, my nickname really was/is Redskull. 

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Replacing a Computer

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Well my two pennies worth. I can concur on the Compaq=dirt evaluation. It was my wife's Compaq Presario laptop that finally solidified that opinion. It cost around $2000.00 in 1999/2000? I cant remember when she bought it exactly. It popped keys, crashed repeatedly and simply couldn't do much of anything except run AOL. And it didn't do that too good either. I got so sick of having to reinstall her software with recovery disks that I switched it to Windows 2000. It became stable after that, but it never really let her do what she wanted to, when she wanted to, and how she wanted to. When the keyboard finally went totally bonkers on it she decided to go out and buy a new one.

In spite of the fact that I ran several Windows 2000 custom desktops and laptops, I suggested she buy an Apple because I had always found them to be the most bang for the buck, if you could afford the initial cost. She decided on a G3 iBook an also snagged one of the 10 gig iPods early 2003. She has ever again had to ask me a computer related question and the iPod is still functioning flawlessly long after the predicted end of life for the battery.

The only issue she ever had was the logic board went out. But it was part of a manufacturing defect. Apple provided DHL shipping to and from our front door with a three day turn around. The repair and shipping were completely free.

I returned to the Apple fold tepidly with a purchase of a 1 gig iPod Shuffle. I had forgotten just how well designed Apple products were. Then over the past few months I began relegating my Windows systems to the trash heap. The final straw was when a mirrored drive set completely crashed without any warning, taking with it both the original and backups of all my personal correspondence going back to 1998. Let us just say having not one but three drives burn out at the exact same time left a bad taste in my mouth. Having worked on Windows systems for years I was sill amazed at how total the crash was.

Anyway my wife told me she would buy me a computer on one condition. I had to get rid of all my white-box systems and my laptops. They currently sit in huge pile in the corner of my office.

I could have gotten a G5 Dual Processor tower system. But I thought it was a bit foolish since I really will only be using a computer for the next few years for personal use instead of work. So I came down to earth and decided to go for something simple. I decided on a Mac Mini and was leaning towards an Intel Duo system. But a few things held me back. One was the cost is pretty steep considering it is Apple's first venture into the world of Intel. Second was the price differential between the old Mac Mini, the Intel Solo, and the Intel Duo systems. Its hard for me to admit it, but at this point in my life I am definitely unable to justify being a power geek computer user. 

So I decided I'd just get a Mac Mini G4 system. Luck would have it that Costo has a huge consignment of Mac Mini G4 systems in bundle packages that include the computer and Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, as well as a three year Applecare extended warranty. I bought a really nice flat panel monitor to go with it as well. All told, the bill was just south of $700 tax included. I have to say getting used to using a Apple computer took all of 30 seconds after having not used one on a regular basis in years. Its also so darn cool sitting on my desk. What once was a wall of Windows computers and a nest of cables is now a vast open space where I can put a footstool and stretch my legs out. Plus I can type from anywhere in my office, or even in an entirely different room. 

Considering that the rest of our family has been on the "buy a system every three years because the last one simply becomes too overwhelmed with viruses or incapable of upgrade" plan and spends an average of $1200 a pop on each one, our costs associated with the iBook and now the Mac Mini have been a bargain. I miss having a secondary context button on my mouse, but seeing as I don't have to spend half my time inspecting property pages of programs anymore, it really isn't a major complaint on my part.

As to Dells, "you get what you pay for" has never been a more valid statement. If you are a corporation buying high end Dell custom built systems, you seem to do OK. But if I was smart and had charged a fee for every single Dell system I have had to repair, instead of just normal on site charges, I would be a rich man. And as for HP's the blade servers and Proliant systems seem to be fine. But as you drop down into the more consumer grade systems they kinda turn out to be slightly more expensive Dells. 

If it were me, I'd get a Mac mini. If that was too costly, Id check out a local independent computer builder and see what he could build as a custom system based on your budget. I'd go with a Dell or HP as a last resort. 

Then again there is always Ebay. I just saw a G3 iBook with OS X Panther installed going for $39 bucks. It comes with everything it is supposed to except the power cable/recharger pack. Having more than a few dogs around, I have had to buy more than a few Apple iBook power cables. They were running for $109.00 at CompUSA a year ago. So it is possible that you could equip yourself with a very nice system for under $200.00. Then again I have an unnatural distrust of Ebay so take it for what its worth.

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